#DINK Life

[mandsleanan]

“The past few decades have shown that societal norms don’t look the same as they used to, and millennial women played a major role in that shift,” said Courtney Alev, consumer financial advocate at Intuit Credit Karma. 

“As a result, women today aren’t tethered to the timelines set by those before them, as many choose to prioritize their careers above being young mothers. In some cases, that means prolonging family planning until they become more established in their careers, while others don’t see children in their future at all. Regardless, both camps are highly influenced by money and the high costs associated with conceiving and raising children.”

(Text under cut.)

America’s vision of success is changing. Once upon a time, U.S. adults may have aspired to have a nuclear family, their name on a property, and maybe even a white picket fence.

Not anymore—at least, not for a growing number of millennial and Gen Z women who are prioritizing their careers and finances over having children.

New research from personal-finance experts Intuit Credit Karma found 45% of millennial women are not following the “traditional” societal timelines of getting married, buying a home, and having kids.

A further 41% of Gen Z women—those born from 1997 onwards—say they won’t follow this path, with 32% noting their goal is to have no children at all.

Instead, they want to be “DINKs”—having dual income with a partner but no children.

It’s part of a growing trend in the U.S. In 2022 there were 38.1 million married, childless households—an increase of 140% compared with 1960.

DINK couples Fortune spoke to previously said their choice was prompted by a range of reasons: pursuing passions, financial freedom, or a focus on their careers.

These factors were all the more pronounced in Credit Karma’s report. It found a quarter of American women are delaying having children in order to focus on their careers, a figure that correlates to the number of women who earn more than their partners.

While jobs and careers form one major reason why women aren’t having children right now, another is financial situation and savings.

For the 35% of millennial women who told Credit Karma they didn’t want children, money was often a significant factor: 40% of that group said they couldn’t afford children, compared with 35% of Gen Zers planning to be DINKs.

On top of that, getting a plan in place to potentially have children in the future comes with a hefty price tag. Nearly one-third of the millennial women surveyed said that the eye-watering sums which come with fertility treatment, egg freezing, adoption, and surrogacy are what has kept them from family planning.

“The past few decades have shown that societal norms don’t look the same as they used to, and millennial women played a major role in that shift,” said Courtney Alev, consumer financial advocate at Intuit Credit Karma. 

“As a result, women today aren’t tethered to the timelines set by those before them, as many choose to prioritize their careers above being young mothers. In some cases, that means prolonging family planning until they become more established in their careers, while others don’t see children in their future at all. Regardless, both camps are highly influenced by money and the high costs associated with conceiving and raising children.”

Economic power players

The importance of millennial women in the economy is only going to get more pronounced in the coming years, according to Ned Davis Research (NDR).

Last month, a study titled The Rising Influence of Millennial Women found prime-age female job participation rate hit record highs in a handful of developed economies in 2023.

Among the nations where women are now having an outsize impact on the economy are the U.S., Australia, Japan, Italy, South Korea, and Germany.

This increased participation comes with higher levels of education, NDR chief economist Alejandra Grindal and senior analyst Patrick Ayers found, with women therefore more likely to be employed in productive roles.

Grindal explained the correlation between education, employment, and productivity, writing: “The unemployment rate tends to be lower among people with higher education, which helps explain the greater take-up of women in the workforce. People with greater education are also more likely to have full-time jobs and to be employed productively.”

[scarlikebite]

Okay, I just need some place to vent my frustrations:

I just want to read a book or watch a show where a happily married couple has no babies and they don’t plan on having any. Nor do they really want them!! Or a single person isn’t desperately seeking out love to form a family and can just be happy with their life as it is!!

I want them to be the very best auntie and uncles possible!! They can love kids but they just have no desire to be parents themselves.

Give me the new single mother and her bestie shopping for groceries and when some weird ass dude comments about how good the mother looks the bestie holds her hand and is all, “I know, right! My babe is amazing!”

I want that uncle that no matter what he never misses a single sport event, recitals, or show!! He is beyond supportive and is always willing to drive to practice if parents aren’t able.

Lemme see a couple getting a call from their niece at 1AM because they’re underage and drunk at a party and need a ride and they’re too worried too call their parents so in the car the couple goes!!! Pick up the kiddo and take them home giving them a safe place to sleep it off and of course let the parents know their little one is safe.

People can live full lives without having their own kids. And just because they don’t want to be parents doesn’t mean they don’t love the children in their lives. I’d love to see more of these dynamics portrayed in modern media and if people have recs of where I can find some, please let me know!!

[legolasvegas]

I paid off my house!!! No more mortgage!!!

[koiinoborii]

Thinking abt Dink again

[green-green-grass]

THUNDER FORCE 5: THE OMEGA CONTINUUM

The insidious GLUMLOCK CONTINGENT has taken control of an object of unimaginable power: the OMEGA CONTINUUM. Our heroes are in hot pursuit when a black hole combines with a CRYON CLOUD to transport our heroes to EARTH, 2025.

Join Tallis Jan, Dink Blastar, Snarky Bobo, Jack Sensation, Big Hork, and actor Jonathan Frakes on a rip-roaring temporal adventure as they stand against enemy forces... including the enemy WITHIN?

Pre-order tickets for a chance to win your VERY OWN Big Hork plushie. In theaters never.

[wishingstarinajar]

Being a security officer on the Lost Light with its pretty crazy crew can be very exhausting and frustrating at times! Starflare would know. Oh, he knows.

Buy him a drink, Pummel, or even two drinks! Just help the poor mech out.

Pummel is @stankychee's boy~

[cryoverkiltmilk]

#DINK Life #Childfree

#With the subreddit unavailable we're going to see a lot of activity on the Tumblr tag #Get ready for a massive TERF invasion #Since they need to stay quiet about their bigotry on the subreddit #Or else they get the Banhammer

Sharing these tags as a public service announcement. Get your block button ready folks.

To any new childfree tumblrites, change your icon, make your likes visible, and make sure to reblog. Upvotes/Likes mean nothing for the visibility of a post.

[mirensiart]

sleeping curse trope where if you fall asleep u stay asleep sleeping beauty style until the curse is broken my beloved

the trusty wizzrobe™️ cursing the chain with the sleeping curse and like they don't realize they're cursed, so when sky falls asleep at camp no one really finds it weird when he doesn't wake up during dinner cause like, it's sky, the guy can sleep through anything

Anyway, legend taking first watch while everyone goes to sleep, but hyrule stays with him cause he's not sleepy yet and wolfie hangs out with them too cause like, wolfie does whatever wolfie wants ok

Anyway long story short, I just like the mental image of the downfall duo trying to break the curse while desperately looking at legend's ancient spell books and being super grumpy and sleep deprived

While twilight slaps them around so they stay awake and not fall asleep and supplies them with coffee cause like, he is the less magical link,man, they're all dead if the downfall duo falls asleep and twilight is left behind cause he can't do shit lmao

Legend hiting twilight with his book when he sees twi starting to fall sleep though

Hyrule slaping legend so he stays awake lmao

They're so god damn grumpy too lmao

[millidew]

little baby wisteria

[weepingtalecowboy]

Shadow is the next calamity

Fanfic prompt: the blood moon rises but unfortunately shadow and the chain miss each other by a day

So he gets left behind in Wild's Hyrule gets in a fight with a hinox

And the Yiga hear of a massive explosion in a forest and immediately go there in case the hero is there

But instead they find a toddler who has absolutely no trouble with massacring the hinox population (because the blood moon brings back monsters stronger and that would apply to shadow)

The Yiga soldier decides that he will be smart that one time and retreats to tell his master about the situation

And kohga gets interested because another hero has appeared

From nowhere and he is all by himself with the other heroes missing

Then he decides to make a grand entrance

But then regrets it because that darkness coming off the kid

Is a sort of darkness he has only experienced once before

The day he encountered the calamity In all its glory

With the calamity gone nothing should have such powers anymore

Whoever that child was he was the closest thing to the calamity in decades (blood moon aside)

So the entire Yiga clan immediately starts warshipping shadow and invite him to their humble hideout

And shadow decides that they are definitely evil but also if Vio managed to play the role of a villain then he could do it even better

And makes it his mission to be the best overlord they could have ever had and give those weirdos a redemption arc

But quickly sidetrackes when he finds out that he is at full power

The Yiga see their new lord pull out a bomb and bomb an entire crater in the desert

When he shapeshiftes into a perfect replica of kohga and crawls up a wall with shadow power

They quickly learn that he very well could be the next calamity

They then at some point awkwardly ask him where he got such power

When he told them that he is ganon's secret love child

They don’t even doubt it and change their suits to purple

The races of Hyrule main while are in genuine fear because the Gerudo heard a massive explosion in the Yiga's hideout

The Yiga stopped eating bananas and began Making evil root beer (?)

And the hinox population has moved to the desert

And they are wearing purple

So obviously the world is ending

When the chain appears back they hear that the calamity returned from the dead and is causing massive destruction but most importantly the chain sees the entire world think that the world is ending

Just because the Yiga stopped eating bananas

And arm themselves for the apocalypse and the potential end of the world

Because what did dink do to make the Yiga willing to drop their addiction

When it turns out to be shadow four was ready to hit him for the stunt

[sqrkyclean]

potion.....

[mandsleanan]

Sorry, parents: The American dream is only for DINKS

Homebuyers with kids will likely spend 66% of their income on a mortgage and childcare this year.

Parents in Los Angeles and San Diego can expect to spend as much as 121% and 113%, respectively.

Some Californians have moved across the country to afford to buy a home.

Thinking about buying a home this year with kids already in the picture? Get ready to dig deep.

A recent study from Zillow found that potential homebuyers with children are likely to spend 66% of their income on mortgage payments and childcare expenses — an increase of nearly 50% from 2019. 

The real-estate company estimated city- and state-level childcare costs from 2009 to 2022 for the typical American family with 1.94 children by analyzing data from the Women’s Bureau of the US Department of Labor and advocacy group Child Care Aware.

According to Zillow’s analysis, in 31 of the largest 50 US metropolitan areas with available childcare cost data, families looking to buy a home can expect to spend more than 60% of their income on mortgage and childcare costs.

Some areas are even costlier, with parents in cities like Los Angeles and San Diego needing to dedicate as much as 121% and 113%, respectively. (In those areas, the cost of buying a typical home and childcare is so big relative to the median income that Zillow's calculation results in figures over 100%.)

Zillow determined that a family earning a median household income of $6,640 per month can expect to allocate $1,984 of that to childcare. If the family purchased a house at a 6.61% interest rate — the rate in early January, when the US Department of Labor released its latest data on childcare costs — and made a 10% down payment, their monthly mortgage would amount to $1,973.

That leaves just $2,683 for additional expenses like food, transportation, and healthcare. This means many households with kids are financially strained; they're likely spending more than 30% of their income on housing, well above what experts recommend.

It all adds up to a costly reality that's making the American dream of homeownership seem farther out of reach for parents than ever before.

Parents can blame a yearslong battle with inflation, as well as stubbornly high home prices and mortgage rates, for contributing to their predicament.

Based on the study, a new buyer household in the United States, making the median income, would spend 30% of it on housing. It's paying for childcare, then, that adds so much on top of the housing budget.

The upshot: Another group, less encumbered financially, appears better poised to realize the dream of homeownership: "DINKS," an acronym that stands for "dual income, no kids."

Some child-free DINKS — who boast a median net worth above $200,000 according to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances — devote their disposable income to luxuries like boats and expensive cars.

Without the financial obligations of raising children, such as covering medical expenses or enrolling them in daycare or private school, DINKS can save thousands of dollars a year and build greater long-term wealth.

Some DINKS use their savings to finance vacations and travel the world, like Elizabeth Johnson and her husband, who, over the past couple of years, have hiked in the Swiss Alps, snorkeled in Hawaii, and enjoyed leaf peeping in Canada.

"We hang out with other people's kids every once in a while," Johnson previously told Business Insider's Bartie Scott and Juliana Kaplan, "but then we happily just give them back to their parents."

Some Americans with kids move to places where their money goes further

One solution to the high cost of both buying a home and raising a family?

Move.

In recent years, young Americans in higher-cost states have decided to move to places that offer them a cheaper cost of living.

Janelle Crossan moved to New Braunfels, Texas, from Costa Mesa, California, in 2020 following a divorce.

She was able to become a first-time homebuyer and found a safe community to raise her son.

"I paid $1,750 for rent in a crappy little apartment in California," Crossan told BI earlier this year. "Now, three years later, my whole payment, including mortgage and property taxes, is $1,800 a month for my three-bedroom house."

Pengyu Cheng, a program manager for a tech company, told BI in 2023 that moving from California to Texas allowed him and his wife to afford their first home, giving them the confidence and security to have their first child.

"Living in California has always been expensive," Cheng said. "I knew that when my wife and I eventually expanded our family, we wouldn't be able to afford San Francisco or the Bay Area in general — even though we both earn good salaries."

[ninjastar107]

Another one. I mentioned it on one of my previous posts, but I have the headcannon that the Tree of Life works more than just supplying berries and producing a sort of balance. It's the place pac-people go to get their kids! They do a wish for it and then in awhile they get a letter that tells them to show up and pick up their kid. The look of the kid reflects the parents in most cases, lest there's some damage on the flower, or something else goes awry.

I think the look of pacworlders sometimes reflect the tree they came from as well. Power berries back in the day were more in-lined with the type of tree, so for example a tree located in a tropical area gave more chameleon berries than a tree located in a tundra. Pac worlders from a tree in a hot area have a higher chance of being born with an innate elemental power of fire, stuff like that.

It probably still happens in the modern age, but a lot less. The Tree of Life in Pacopolis is from a seed that was cross pollinated by a bunch of different trees, and so its berry production is also pretty mixed.

[dishdogs]

He is real…

the itty bitty ones were just test doodles but i liked em

[radarsteddybear]

Is it perfect? No. Do I need to stop fiddling with it before I ruin it again? Yes.

Tomorrow’s task will be to glue the pieces together…though I should probably seal the background piece first, so maybe I’ll seal it tomorrow and glue it all together on Saturday.

[notnotnightwing]

Me after causing mild havoc